Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family

By W. White, S. Corrigan, Lei Yang, A. Henderson, Adam L. Bazinet, David L. Swofford, Gavin J. P. Naylor. 2018

160 citations recorded by the source corpus.

DNA sequence data from mitochondrial genomes and c . 1000 nuclear exons were analysed for a complete taxon sampling of manta and devilrays (Mobulidae) to estimate a current molecular phylogeny for the family. The resulting inferences were combined with morphological information to adopt an integrated approach to resolving the taxonomic arrangement of the family. The members of the genus Manta were found to consistently nest within the Mobula species and consequently the genus Manta is placed into the synonymy of Mobula . Mobula eregoodootenkee , M. japanica and M. rochebrunei were each found to be junior synonyms of M. kuhlii , M. mobular and M. hypostoma , respectively. The mitochondrial and nuclear tree topologies were in agreement except for the placement of M. tarapacana which was basal to all other mobulids in the nuclear exon analysis, but as the sister group to the M. alfredi – M. birostris – M. mobular clade in the mitochondrial genome analysis. Results from this study are used to a revise the taxonomy for the family Mobulidae. A single genus is now recognized (where there were previously two) and eight nominal species (where there were previously 11).

Subfields: Aquatic Science, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/815f9b27b80411df90b87e17b2faae4ef93a1824

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In Aquatic Science

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Research Priorities to Support Effective Manta and Devil Ray Conservation (2018, background): “…into two species (Marshall et al., 2009), a redescription of M. kuhlii (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al., 2017), and a recent phylogenetic reclassification of the mobulid ray family (Mobulidae) that proposes a single genus (Mobula) and eight species where there were previously 11 (White et al., 2017).”
Species diversity, taxonomy and distribution of Chondrichthyes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (2020, background): “The taxonomy of the genus Centrophorus Müller & Henle, 1837 has not been settled, and some species are still under investigation (White et al. 2013, 2017a).”